Nansledan has reached a major milestone with the sale of its 500th home.

Sisters Briony, 25, and Kathryn Tobin, 22, from nearby St Columb Major, have just moved in to their three-bedroomed, semi-detached house with garden on Quintrell Road in Nansledan.

The first time buyers said years of hard work and careful saving had allowed them to secure their new home with help from the government-backed Help to Buy scheme.

The sisters, who both work for their family’s speciality coffee company Cornico, just 15 minutes away, said they were thrilled to be able to buy a home in an area that they love. Briony and Kathryn grew up in St Columb Major and wanted to stay close to family and friends if possible.

“We were looking at quite a few houses all over Cornwall, but they were sold before we even got to view them,” said Briony (pictured), who saw the properties on Nansledan’s website and got in touch with the builders CG Fry & Son directly. CG Fry is one of three housebuilders involved in Nansledan, the others being Morrish Homes and Wain Homes.

“CG Fry said they had a house available and it was for sale under the government’s Help to Buy scheme,” said Briony.

Briony and Kathryn had already decided that the only way they would be able to afford to move out of the family home would be to pool their resources and buy a house together.

The sisters, who have lived near Newquay all of their lives, quickly realised that Help to Buy was the ideal way to make their hard-earned savings go further.

“We were in the right place at the right time, I think,” said Briony, office manager at Cornico, which supplies Nansledan’s Shiva Café.

“We‘ve always been Newquay girls and all of our friends live in and around the town. We feel really lucky that we’ve been able to buy somewhere here. It’s hard for anyone in our age group in Cornwall to find places to live. A lot of our friends are renting but their rent costs more than our mortgage.”

Both sisters are looking forward to being part of Nansledan’s growing community of residents and businesses.

“We’ve been quite curious about who else is moving in,” said Briony. “It’ll be nice to get to know our neighbours and meet new people. And I’m really looking forward to being able to walk to Shiva café. They are a customer of ours and I go to Pilates there once a week.”

Moving day took place last week, followed by the arrival of carpets and new flooring to make the three-bed house feel like home.

“Our beds are being delivered this week and we’ve been buying quite a lot of furniture since we found out about the house,” said Briony “I’ve been to Ikea more times than I’d like to count.”

Briony and Kathryn say they are proud to be part of Nansledan’s story and are excited about the future.

Briony said: “We are really excited and so are our parents. They’re happy that we’re only round the corner but I think they’re also quite pleased to get rid of us!”

Ben Murphy, Estates Director for the Duchy of Cornwall, said: “We’re delighted to welcome Briony and Kathryn to Nansledan and to know that they have been able to stay close to their family, friends and place of work.

“Nansledan is designed to meet local needs and, like Briony and Kathryn, almost three quarters of the home buyers are from Cornwall, with around half from Newquay itself. All of the affordable housing we have built, for rent, shared ownership or discounted sale, makes up 30% of the total housing built. All of the affordable housing is allocated to local people on Cornwall Council’s ‘HomeChoice’ register, who must prove they have a local connection to Cornwall.

“We ban holiday lettings on Nansledan and we have started to look at ways we can build and manage private rented housing for local people. We appreciate there is a strong demand for all types of housing in Newquay and we are doing our best to help meet local demand first and foremost.”

Philip Fry, Managing Director of CG Fry & Son, said: “We are very proud to be working in partnership with the Duchy of Cornwall at Nansledan. Now that we have reached the 500th home completion and we have people living and working in the homes, shops and offices, it is starting to become a real place with a great atmosphere. I would like to welcome Briony and Kathryn to the community and I hope they enjoy living in their new CG Fry home and seeing the community grow. Nansledan is really unique with its high quality of design and use of local materials. Demand for our housing is really strong and it is wonderful that we are getting so many local buyers.”

Nansledan embodies the principles of architecture and sustainability championed by HRH The Duke of Cornwall. It has been designed to be an exemplary and highly sustainable community by providing mixed-income housing, workspace, local shops and community facilities within walkable neighbourhoods. Nansledan includes the equivalent of 180 football pitches of natural and open space, greatly enhancing local biodiversity.

Briony is pictured receiving the keys to her new home at Nansledan with Brendan Leech (left), CG Fry’s Project manager for Nansledan, and New Homes Sales Manager, Marcus Shelton. Picture: Hugh Hastings.